As luck would have it I was left with both Saturday and Sunday free to fish so I decided to allocate both days to the Little River Avon and fish some new sections.

Saturday was spent further down from where I previously fished. Surprisingly here the river here is much faster with plenty of beds of Ranunculus. In fact it was a lovely stretch and after a quick recce I was looking forward to fishing it. Strangely it wasn't that productive and I only managed fish from a couple of deeper pools with large stretches in-between seemingly fishless. Being hot, sunny and windy it wasn’t ideal conditions so I put my lack of success down to that! At the top of the beat the river splits into two manmade tunnels beneath a large A-road. Whilst fishing just downstream of here I heard the most enormous splash from within one of the tunnels. I looked into the tunnel expecting to see a dog swimming around but all I could see where the rings from what was obviously a very large fish! Excitedly I ventured up the tunnel. It was quite surreal and a little scary fishing inside it but the lure of a large fish kept me going. After initially catching a small Trout I lost what felt like a good fish much to my disappointment. Still, I decided to rest the spot and have a break before fishing it again hoping the fish wasn’t spooked. The plan worked well and it didn’t take long before I was into what felt like a good size fish. Eventually netted a lovely Trout of around 12-14inches which I was very pleased with although I couldn’t help but think this fish I heard splash must have been significantly bigger!

On Sunday I decided to explore the lowest stretch of the syndicate’s water. The river here is overgrown with reeds in places and looks good for Chub although difficult to fish. I spent a fair while in a very promising large pool which I had been informed held large Trout but disappointingly didn’t catch anything. After that I decided I would spend the afternoon and evening further upstream in the same stretch I fished with Alan on a previous visit.

The move was justified immediately after I managed to catch 5 Grayling including two beauties around a pound and quite a few lost all from my favourite pool. After working my way upstream I came to a bend that had produced a few Grayling previously. As I slowly crept up to get into a casting position a trout rose a couple of times on the far bank next to some roots. The spot was particularly tight and difficult to cast so I attempted a catapult cast. By some small miracle it landed perfectly, just upstream of the rises. The fly had barely touched down before the fish took it with gusto and although I could tell right away it was a good fish it was only when I shot past my feet and started stripping line from my reel that I realised I was into something special! I didn't have much choice but to follow the fish downstream where upon it promptly swam back upstream! The fight continued in this fashion for a number of heart stopping minutes before I eventually managed to slip it into the net. I couldn't believe the size of it, just under 2lb, by far the biggest wild Brown Trout I have ever caught and certainly one of the most memorable. Went on to catch a couple more Grayling but there was only one thing that was on my mind, still can’t quite believe it!